English

Alternative forms

• henne (obsolete)

Noun

hen ‎(plural hens)

1. A female chicken (Gallus gallus), particularly a sexually mature one kept for its eggs.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

2. A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.
3. (uncommon) A female fish or crustacean.
4. (figuratively, depreciatory) A woman, particularly
   • 1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

     Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.

   1. (Britain, informal) A bride-to-be, particularly in the context of her "hen night" festivities.
5. (Britain, informal) A hen night.
6. (figuratively, pejorative, uncommon) A henlike person of either sex.
7. The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.

Synonyms

• (female bird): hen-bird
• (bride-to-be): (US) bachelorette
• (M. mercenaria): hard clam, hen-clam, hen-fish

Coordinate terms

• (male chicken or other bird): cock

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• broody

Etymology 2

From Middle English henne, heonne, hinne, from earlier henene, heonenen, henen, from Old English heonan, hionan, heonane, heonone ‎(“hence, from here, away, from how”), from Proto-Germanic *hina, *hinanō ‎(“from here”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- ‎(“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch heen ‎(“away”), German hin ‎(“hence, from here”), Danish hen ‎(“away, further, on”). See also hence.

Adverb

hen ‎(not comparable)

1. (dialectal) Hence.

Etymology 3

From hen ‎(“hence, away”), or a variant of hench.

Verb

hen ‎(third-person singular simple present hens, present participle henning, simple past and past participle henned)

1. (dialectal) To throw.

Anagrams

• Neh.
• NHE

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *hen, from Proto-Celtic *senos, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos.

Adjective

hen

1. old, ancient

Danish

Adverb

hen

1. Used with a verb, indicating a movement towards or to something.

   Gå hen til din far.

   Go to your father.

   Hestene går hen imod mig.

   The horses are walking towards me.

Usage notes

Contrast with henne; where hen indicates movement, henne indicates position. Thus hvor løber han henne means "in what place is he running", whereas hvor løber han hen means "whereto is he running".

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛn
• IPA^(key): /ɦɛn/

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch hin, from Proto-Germanic *himaz.

Pronoun

hen ‎(personal)

1. them

Inflection

Related terms

• hun

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch henne, from Old Dutch *henna, from Proto-Germanic *hanjō, from Proto-Indo-European *kan- ‎(“to sing”), *kana-. Compare German Henne, English hen, German Low German Heen, West Frisian hin, Danish høne, Icelandic hæna, Swedish höna. See also hoen.

Noun

hen f ‎(plural hennen, diminutive hennetje n)

1. hen, female chicken; female of a related species.
2. A female of the species of birds brooding on the ground.
3. (figuratively) 'bird', colloquial term for a human female

Synonyms

• (female chicken) kip, kieken
• (brooding bird) kloek
• (female human; informal) kippetje, duifje

Related terms

• haan m (rooster)
• hoen, hoender n (fowl)

Japanese

Romanization

hen

1. rōmaji reading of へん

Mandarin

Romanization

hen

1. Nonstandard spelling of hēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of hén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of hěn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of hèn.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Scots

Noun

hen ‎(uncountable)

1. Term of address for a woman.

   Alright Mary hen?

Swedish

Etymology 1

Created as an alternative to hon ‎(“she”) and han ‎(“he”). The coining of the word has probably been influenced by the Finnish hän, a personal pronoun used about human beings and which does not specify gender (Finnish lacks grammatical gender entirely). Hen was suggested as early as 1966 in Swedish regional newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning and was proposed again in a 1994 article by linguist Hans Karlgren, but did not receive widespread attention until around 2010.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛn/

Pronoun

hen third-person singular, masculine, nominative case (accusative hen or henom, possessive hens)

1. (neologism) A personal pronoun of unspecified gender; alternative to hon ("she") or han ("he").

   Det är viktigt att hen får bestämma hur vi ska tilltala henom.

   It is important that he/she decide how we should address him/her.

   • 2011, Anders Lokko, Svenska Dagbladet, "Jag vet hur fruktansvärt ont det gör"

     Alla skilsmässor och separationer är olika. Men i nästan samtliga är det i ****ändan någon som blir lämnad och någon som lämnar. Ingen av de rollerna är enkel. Fast det är när den som lämnar gör det för att hen har träffat någon annan [...]

     All divorces and separations are different. But in almost all cases, someone is left behind or someone leaves. None of those roles are easy. However, it's when the one who does leaves because he/she has met someone else [...]

   • 2011, Lotten Wiklund, Dagens Nyheter, "Jag vill vara hen - inte hon eller han"

     I efterhand har hen förstått att det förmodligen har att göra med att hen aldrig riktigt accepterat att det bara skulle finnas två kön.

     In hindsight, he/she has come to understand that it probably has to do with the fact that he/she has never accepted that there are just two genders.

   • 2012, Jesper Lundqvist, Kivi och Monsterhund:

     ska hen få en hund, kan de halvt säkert lova

   • 2013, Lova Olsson, Svenska Dagbladet, "Arnholm lanserar 'hen' i riksdagen"

     - Målet är att varje individ ska få det stöd hen behöver för att så snabbt som möjligt lära sig svenska, komma i arbete och klara sin egen försörjning, sade den nyblivna jämställdhetsministern.

     - The goal is to make sure that every individual should receive the support he/she needs to learn Swedish, start working and manage to support themselves as soon as possible, said the newly appointed Minister of Gender Equality.

   • 2013, Ann-Marie Begler & Caroline Dyrefors Grufman, DN Debatt, "Flera allvarliga kränkningar i skolan de senaste veckorna"

     - En person i personalen som sliter i och skäller på barnen, hotar med stryk och skrämmer dem med det hen vet att de är rädda för.

     - A person on the staff pushes around and yells at the children, threatens with violence and frightens them with things he/she knows they are afraid of.

   • 2014, Nina Åkestam, Meningen med hela skiten, :

     Vill hen att du ska chansa, eller ta det lugnt?

   • 2015, Ami Sundeman and Anna Lytsy, Kosmosdialogerna, :

     Hens utgångspunkt är alltid större och mera allomfattande än så.

Usage notes

Since around 2010 hen has seen increased usage, though it has not entered everyday language either in spoken or written form. It has been especially popular among activists for gender equality and adherents of queer theory, and with the transgender community.^[2] Publishers of manuals of style and the Swedish Language Council do not proscribe the usage of hen, but recommend the inflected forms hens as the possessive and hen over henom as the object.^[3]

Etymology 2

Related to Norwegian and Icelandic hein ‎(“whetstone”) and Old English hān ‎(“stone; rock”) and modern English hone. See also Sanskrit sāna-, sānī and Latin cōs with the same meaning. See also (dialectal) Swedish hena ("to hone").^[4]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /heːn/

Noun

hen c (singular definite henen, plural indefinte henar)

1. (archaic, dialectal) A whetstone, particularly the small and soft kind.

Declension

Synonyms

• bryne n
• brynsten c

Related terms

• slipsten c ‎(“grindstone”)

References

1. ↑ Svenska Dagbladet, 8 March 2012.
2. ↑ Dagens Nyheter, 17 May 2011.
3. ↑ 2014-08-25. Swedish Language Council. Hur använder man pronomenet hen?. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
4. ↑ Svenska Akademiens ordbok, column H796

Veps

Etymology

Related to Finnish hieno.

Adjective

hen

1. fine
2. refined, elegant

Inflection

Derived terms

• henota

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “изысканный, мелкий, тонкий, утончённый”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *hen, from Proto-Celtic *senos, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /heːn/

Adjective

hen ‎(feminine singular hen, plural hen, equative hened, comparative henach, superlative henaf)

1. old, ancient

Usage notes

• This adjective has an alternate, more “senior” comparative in the form of hŷn and an equivalent alternate superlative in the form of hynaf.
• Unlike most Welsh adjectives, this word goes before the noun.
• Like most Welsh adjectives that go before the noun, this word triggers a soft mutation in the word that follows it.

Yola

Noun

hen

1. hen

Antonyms

• cuck

References

• J. Poole W. Barnes, A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy (1867)